Category: Industry news
William Hill issue profit warning
Further to my recent post, William Hill have issued a profit warning this morning. Other gambling related stocks have fallen in response.
You can read the full warning here: –
https://www.investegate.co.uk/william-hill-plc/wmh/trading-update/201603230700099669S
In a nutshell: –
- Time-outs and self exclusions are up
- Gross win margin is down due to European football results and also the worst Cheltenham results in recent history.
The numbers & valuation
Profits for the year are forecast to fall by up to £30m. However they would …
William Hill living in the stone age
It was with some amusement that I read that William Hill were complaining that the merger between Ladbrokes and Coral was anti competitive.
The main thrust of their argument was that a merger between the two was blocked in 1998 and that: –
“It is important to recognise that the structure of the market has changed relatively little since 1998,” William Hill said, adding that there were 8,983 betting shops in Britain then, compared with 8,958 last year.”
I’m guessing …
The futility of legislation in the Internet age
Betfair recently decided (most likely strategically) to exit the Canada market. This is a downer for North American sports and despite online sports betting being banned in the US, as I have discovered on previous trips there, liquidity is alive and well. I wonder where that could be coming from? I’m half expecting a review from Betfair to announce a Sportbooks will be launched there in the near future 😉
No sooner had Betfair announced the exit, than username change …
You think Donald Trump is bad!
There has been lots of discussion about Donald Trump’s rants of a mad man recently. So here are some more: –
A CASINO IN EVERY SMARTPHONE – LAW ENFORCEMENT IMPLICATIONS
https://oversight.house.gov/hearing/a-casino-in-every-smartphone-law-enforcement-implications/
This was the hearing that was called when the DOJ OLC reversed a long-standing policy by declaring that the Wire Act applied only to sports betting and not all forms of betting. This policy reversal potentially ‘opens the door’ for online gambling in all 50 states.
One sided views…
Ladbrokes and Coral agree £2.3bn merger
News out this morning that after talks, Coral and Ladbrokes will go ahead with their merger.
To fund the deal Ladbrokes will offer 93 million new shares to investors, representing 10% of the company. Ladbrokes will issue new ordinary shares to existing Coral shareholders representing 48.25% of the enlarged company. Existing Ladbrokes shareholders will then own 51.75% of the enlarged company.
The move will mean that the new company will be bigger than the current incumbent William Hill. In terms …
WBX – World betting exchange – Closes
I doubt many people noticed but on Monday WBX shut it doors to new business. They haven’t gone bust so all outstanding bets will be settled and the operations will continue until all business has been sorted out but citing a number of issues they have decided that enough is enough. You can read the notice on their site: –
https://www.wbx.com/notice/scNotice.html
I noticed there is no chatter on any forums about it, I guess a few posts may appear after …
Has Paddy Power overstepped the mark?
There is a storm a brewing tonight.
They say all publicity is good publicity, but there must be an invisible line that is crossed at some point. Judging by the feedback to their latest promotion Paddy Power appear to be at least on that line.
With the world, in part at least, turning its eyes to South Africa for the trial of Oscar Pistorious, Paddy Power thought they would put a market up for it; click here if you wish…
Betfair set to launch in New Jersey
My industry antennae picked up this new website recently: –
Betfair appear to be readying for a launch in New Jersey, but unfortunately it’s just casino and gaming. Hardly ground breaking stuff. But interesting nonetheless.
The choice of imagery just above the subscription form is interesting. A London backdrop?
Anyhow, I’ll keep you updated when things mature a bit.
Original Betfair investor cashes out
News today that Balderton Capital ‘cashed out’ it’s remaining investment in Betfair.
An RNS notice appeared today showing that Balderton had sold 4,227,170 shares bringing their holding from 4.04% to 0%.
The significance of this is that Balderton were one of the original investors. To quote their website: –
“Balderton’s original investment in Betfair was made in 2000 and it remains one of the largest institutional shareholders post the listing. The partners have been actively involved in the development …
Betfair reaffirm the importance of their exchange
You may remember our campaign a little while ago where we encouraged everybody to provide some feedback to Betfair, you can read the original post by clicking here.
Well it seems they are listening as they posted a full response this morning and re-opened the thread again. I’ve extracted some of the response here to highlight some key elements in it: –
Thanks to everyone who voted, your opinion counts and we recognise that introduction of the Sportsbook may …
Authorities close in on match fixing king
News this morning of many arrests in Singapore and the possibility that the leader of a global fixing ring, Dan Tan, is in custody.
If you want to understand why sports betting often gets such a bad press then here is the story that should explain why for you: –
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/dan-tan-the-man-who-fixed-football-8554751.html
I find it frustrating that corruption exists in sport and I believe its one of the reasons why if you manage to make some money in this market then …
Betfair paint a confusing picture
It’s the Betfair AGM today, I wont be going this year as I have sold my shares. But I know somebody who is, so I’ll let you know if anything interesting comes out of it. In line with this an interim management statement was issued this morning.
Generally the tone was bullish despite reporting a decline in revenue. Revenue was down 13% year on year but underlying earnings were up. Betfair wrote off a lot of expenses in the last …
Ladbrokes exchange to launch early 2014
Ladbrokes interim results were out early this morning. A little lacklustre TBH after their recent restructuring. But the thing that catches the eye is: –
“In February we completed the acquisition of the Betdaq betting exchange and are making good progress in developing it as a standalone business. We are on track to introduce a Ladbrokes exchange product to run alongside our existing fixed odds sportsbook early in 2014, creating a more comprehensive and strategically differentiated sports betting offer for …
EU upsets the gambling industry
Industry bodies are up in arms at EU proposals for the introduction of the fourth EU anti-money laundering directive.
Basically the thrust of the proposal is that anybody placing (or winning it seems) bets of €2000 or more will come under the new directive.
Say you are on course and want to place a large bet or collect on a fortunate win. The bookie won’t be able to pay you out unless you bring your passport and he sets …
Betfair Trader Scam – Please circulate
If you have been affected by this, or know anybody that has, please get them to contact us as we want to put an end to this scam. Send us as much information as you have.
1st warning sign – Unsolicited contact
You will have no doubt become familiar with online scams and phone text ‘phishing’ messages. Basically messages designed to dupe you into parting with your username, password, access to key services or sometimes your cash.
Usually, these are …
It’s no wonder gambling has an image problem!
Here is my own personal take on the Elliot Short story and his subsequent jail sentence.
If there is one thing that frustrates me about what I am currently doing, its the image the betting industry has. This leads people to have deep seated issues with anybody who has anything to do with it. It’s almost as bad as the banking industry! Quite clearly it’s a gambling industry issue and one that’s driven by things like the Elliot Short …
Australia moves to restrict live betting
News from down under today that the government is ‘encouraging’ a ban on live betting odds during sports broadcasting in Australia. That great big stick of legislation is being waved to ensure implementation.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said it was good news for Australian families, who were becoming “increasingly frustrated” with the spruiking of live odds on their television screens.
Full story here: –
https://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/5/26/politics/pm-unveils-plan-ban-live-betting-odds
Betfair reject £900m takeover offer
Betfair came out this morning and rejected an offer by CVC of 880p per share. With 103m shares in issue, that values Betfair at roughly £900m. Betfair shares closed at 800p on Friday so expect another jump up today.
Mark Davis had some interesting reflections on the offer on his blog. His comments are always worth a look as he is a big shareholder and obviously an insider on the whole Betfair thing. He has often given insight to …
More confusing exchange legislation, this time in Italy
News last week that legislation has been tabled in Italy to legalise the use of Betfair from an exchange perspective. But the legislation looks horrible.
For about two years Betfair have not been accepting new registrations from Italian customers, so an update on legislation has been long awaited. From what I can make out at the moment the Italian exchange will only be open to Italian residents betting on a very restricted range of markets. For example there would be …
Ladbrokes complete Betdaq purchase
Haven’t they already I hear you say? No, that was an offer to buy, from there follows due diligence and various other bits and bobs.
Here is the offical announcement – https://otp.investis.com/clients/uk/ladbrokes/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=262&newsid=324294
So from 1st March Betdaq officially became part of Ladbrokes. Let the fun and games commence!
US States agree online gambling bills
News this week that first Nevada then New Jersey have agree bills that legalise online gambling. Hurrah I hear you shout!
But wait, what’s this? Read through the detail and you find that actually both bills are a bit restrictive in terms of the fine detail.
In terms of the latter, the bill only allows Atlantic City casino companies to take online bets. Furthermore, the bill will only allow bettors from other states to gamble online, as long as regulators …
Betfair wields the axe
Lots of news stories floating around last week about redundancies at Betfair. Most reports quoted redundancies in the ‘hundreds’. The news first came to light when GamblingCompliance revealed that around 80 jobs had been cut from Betfair’s London headquarters. eGamingReview went on to announce that the total number of redundancies could top 650.
This appears to be part of CEO Breon Corcoran’s attempts to ‘rejuvenate’ the business by cutting £20m in annual expenses as stated in their December analyst call. …
Lots of ICE
Just completing a busy week. It was one of more research, a fair bit of trading and a ton of meetings with people in the industry.
This week there have been a number of industry events on in London, the main one is called ICE. I am at the last one this morning, before heading back to the office this afternoon. These events take place each year and it’s where all the glitterati from the world of gambling come together …
Bert in £3m Betfair cash out
According to a regulatory filing notice issued on the 24th January; Andrew Black, one of the founders of Betfair, ‘cashed out’ £3m worth of shares on Wednesday.
In my experience there can be any number of reasons to sell shares, but only one reason to buy them. So I’m not sure a sale is that significant. Also, he still has 7,817,390 left! When Bert left the board is was a watershed moment for Betfair. It’s never been the same since.…
Ladbrokes buys Betdaq
Major, but not totally unexpected, news in the betting exchange world this morning.
I really felt that exchanges could change everything when I first started using them, but lately it almost felt like they were regressing to a standard betting model! I am hopeful that this news will breath new life into the betting exchange concept and allow things to start moving forward again in a more positive manner than we have been used to in recent years. While we …
Ladbrokes confirm talks with Betdaq
In a brief statement issued today Ladbrokes confirmed the long runner rumours that have been around for some time, that they ARE in talks to acquire Betdaq.
The short statement said: –
“The Board notes repeated press speculation regarding Betdaq. Ladbrokes enjoys a close commercial cooperation with Betdaq and can confirm discussions regarding a potential future acquisition.
Negotiations are ongoing though at this stage there is no certainty that an agreement will be reached.
Any further announcement will be made …
William Hill agree to buy Sporting Bet
The boards of William Hill plc , GVC Holdings plc and Sportingbet plc are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended offer pursuant to which GVC will acquire the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Sportingbet and members of the William Hill Group will acquire the Sportingbet Australian Business and certain other assets from the Sportingbet Group and be granted a call option over the Sportingbet Spanish Business (the “Offer”).…
Betfair forced to exit Germany
In another blow for international expansion Betfair has been forced to exit Germany.
In July Germany applied a turnover tax of 5% on stakes which Betfair believed wasn’t applicable to it. Betfair confirmed that discussions are continuing with tax authorities regarding the potential tax liability, if any, arising from bets placed on its exchange since the law came into effect.
Betfair is now reviewing its operations in this market. In FY12, approximately 4% of Core Betfair revenue came from Germany …
The folly of protectionist legislation
If there is one certainty about the world, uncertainty. Disruptive moments and technologies have been a way of life since time immemorial, in fact it seems the universe is built on constant change. Without it we wouldn’t be here. Change can be difficult, but only if you don’t embrace it.
As an example, I found an interesting piece on the how the internet has transformed over a decade, have a look: –
https://mashable.com/2012/08/22/the-internet-a-decade-later/
Back when man decided to discard the …
Germany set to backtrack on Gambling laws
Recently the Germany state of Schleswig-Holstein, to much fanfare, announced the licensing of three operators in it’s territory, myBet, Betfair and Nordwest Lotto. Three weeks later, operators Bwin, Bet365, BetAtHome and Tipico were also approved with their gaming licenses.
However the state recently announced a shock decision to return to German’s Interstate Gambling Treaty. Ralf Stegner had the following to say according to EGR:
“We are beginning to clear the minefield in the German gambling legislation left by our predecessors …
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